The author, who was a good athlete, a good swimmer, and a good mountaineer, saved two Russians from drowning in the city of Gagra on August 23, 1960, but he could not save himself and lost his life in the stormy sea.
(4 July 1934-23 August 1960)
Guram Rcheulishvili was born on July 4, 1934 in Tbilisi. He graduated from Tbilisi State University, Department of History in 1957. His first stories, which brought him great success and made his name known, were published in Tsiskari magazine in 1957.
Guram Rcheulishvili's entire literary activity lasted only four years in his short life, but the quality and impact of the works he produced during these four years became a milestone in Georgian literature.
While the author was alive, seven of his stories were published: "Kote Grandfather's Autumn," "The Mousetrap," "Love in March," "Slow Tango," "Tvirtvila," "Untitled Uplistsikheli" and "Among the Mountains."
Guram Rcheulishvili (July 4, 1934, in Tbilisi, Georgia ― August 23, 1960, in Gagra, Georgia) was a Georgian writer. Guram Rcheulishvili was born on July 4, 1934, in Tbilisi. In 1957 he graduated from the historical faculty at Tbilisi State University. His first stories, which were printed in the newspaper Tsiskari in 1957, brought him great success.
His first story collection, titled A Horse Called Salamuri, was published in 1961 after the author's death.
Guram Rcheulishvili's writing style, diversity of topics, a narrative style close to documentary, short and striking dialogues, and his power to create the appropriate atmosphere for the place and narrative are remarkable.
The heroes of the stories have characteristics such as pugnacity, fearlessness, audacity, living their passions to the extreme, and wandering through the corridors of passion. Despite this, the humanitarian aspects of the heroes are extremely strong. These are the characters with endless tolerance that the author describes...
The detail that stands out in Guram Rcheulishvili is the immense sense of freedom within the heroes and the lifestyle that suits it. Almost all of the story heroes have a great sense of freedom to which they are passionately committed.
For example, the story titled "Aheste Tango" is a text that tells a lot with few words and deeply criticizes society and the system. The author, who was a good athlete, a good swimmer, and a good mountaineer, saved two Russians from drowning in the city of Gagra on August 23, 1960, but he could not save himself and lost his life in the stormy sea.
Slow Tango
He is playing a soft tango on the beach. People are cheerful. A child in the sea is swimming toward the deep, and the parents are proud. Tango is playing softly. The mother is worried and goes into the sea after her child.
Sunbathers are now dancing. The father swims quickly, worried that neither his wife nor his child will return. Those who sing along to music speak highly of this sports family. Mother and child are saved. The father drowned. The author of this story will drown at sea four years later while saving two people. He is only 26 years old.
With only four years of literary experience, Guram Rcheulishvili has made his name among the unforgettable figures of Georgian literature. His productivity, depth, simplicity, and sincere expression in the fields of stories, poems, and plays make him respected, not with his sad ending.
He sadly displays and harshly criticizes the aspects of modern life that are far from nature and naturalness in his stories. But it does not invite us to return to nature, it asks us to choose freedom. For freedom, the Caucasus mountains and the horses that will gallop to the peaks will be enough. Freedom is also an adventure. In some of them, a Georgian girl is kidnapped, in some of them, a German family is involved in unique scenes; In some, we meet at a holiday place or in the sadness of a New Year's Eve, in others, we return to the past among the ruins of a castle.